(A.N: Hoho, Merry Christmas, everyone! Wishing you all a joyous aive day filled with happiness and warmth. ??)

  "Don’t worry, this won’t be a ‘friendly’ spar like you’ve had until now," Jiraiya said with a smile. To Kaida, it didn’t look like a friendly smile—it looked like the hospital was already preparing a bed for him.

  “We don’t have to hokage building for now, Sensei is really busy and will check your aptitude after a week, till then we will only focus on training” Jiraya said, Kaida just nodded his head at that, not in hurry at all,

  ***

  For the week, Kaida and Jiraiya followed a simple routine. Jiraiya taught Kaida how to wield his powers better, which was more important than increasing them.

  (A.N.: Why? Well, if we pare that to our world, imagine you have a very powerful gun, but your aim is very bad. Then what’s the be of having the gun? You won’t be able to use it when necessary. I also think that during the time Jiraiya took Naruto for training, he did something simir—improving his trol over his power rather than teag something new. Well, I hope this is true ^~^)

  After learning many things in the m, they had a hearty breakfast of nutrient bars, then a three-hour sparring session iernoon. During this time, Kaida realized how much Jiraiya had been holding back when he was testing him earlier. After each sparring session, it was difficult for Kaida to even move.

  During the spar, whenever Kaida was in a position where Jiraiya’s attack would either kill or seriously injure him, Jiraiya would increase one point for that day’s sparring session.

  This was the point list after a week:

  - *1st day* - 265 points

  - *2nd day* - 250 points

  - *3rd day* - 232 points

  - *4th day* - 203 points

  "If the points are above 150, I’ll increase the sparring session by awo hours," Jiraiya casually e the end of the 4th day.

  - *5th day* - 123 points

  - *6th day* - 91 points

  - *7th day* - 41 points

  After a week, the points reduced to 41, which meant that if Kaida fought someo Jiraiya's level, he would die in 4-5 minutes. But that was still much better than half a minute, which was his initial record.

  Kaida also khat Jiraiya still wasn’t using his full power. He hadn’t used his frog summons e Mode, two of his most powerful abilities. But sidering how he regurly used Fire Style Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, along with many other teiques, it wasn’t wrong to say that Kaida got a feel of the strength of a mid-to-high Kage-level ninja. And man, was he surprised.

  'The gap between a low Kage-level ninja and a high Kage-level ninja is like the gap between a Genin and ae Jonin. And I’m not even a Geni... how the hell will I fight you?' Kaida thought, fag Jiraiya's ridicule every time he crossed a tury in the points.

  Later in their schedule, they ate a "royal" lunch of nutrient bars. After a two-hour rest, during which Kaida treated his injuries which he usually got during the spars, they analyzed the mistakes Kaida made during the spar and what he could have doer. The best thing Jiraiya taught him was how to run away from a fight he was definitely going to lose.

  Now that Kaida could keep himself alive for more than two minutes in front of a kage level ninja, the ces of running away were no longer zero. Jiraiya made sure that they were at least more than 50%. After that, Kaida had to plete an exercise set developed by Jiraiya to enhance his already sturdy physique.

  "You have the blood of the Senju . It would be a crime not to have a body sturdy enough just because you're zy," Jiraiya said on the first day, after t Kaida from m to evening with enough physical bor to kill a normal persoimes.

  But Kaida just gritted his teeth and pleted the exercise. Jiraiya left a e behind to che Kaida a out daily during this time. After pleting the exercise, Kaida’s fatigue level was so high that he could sleep on rocky ground. So, as soon as he ate his satisfying dinner of nutrient bars, Kaida just fell asleep.

  As Jiraiya had said initially, Kaida truly fot the cept of time during that week, just fog on learning. After the week was pleted...

  ***

  "We're not doing training today, boy. We have something more important to do," Jiraiya said as Kaida was getting ready for m training.

  "Yes, Sensei," Kaida replied, thinking Jiraiya was referring to some other type of training.

  "Follow me," Jiraiya said, leaving the training area. Kaida simply followed him. After ing out of the mountain, Kaida saw the sun for the first time in a full week. Even though the training area was well-lit, sunlight couldn’t be pared to artificial light. After feeling good for a sed, Kaida once again started following Jiraiya.

  They went to the Hokage building at a leisurely pace. Even though they could have used a Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu to get there in minutes, Jiraiya decided to simply take a walk, allowing Kaida to enjoy his time in the sun after a week.

  "How’s your pain tolerance?" Jiraiya asked when they were about to reach the Hokage building.

  "I was able to bear the pain of this seal being applied on me, so I think it’s quite good, Sensei," Kaida said.

  "Hmm, then it might go up a level today," Jiraiya said casually, but Kaida stopped in his tracks, not wanting to uand what Jiraiya meant.

  "What do you mean by 'increasing the level,' Sensei?" Kaida asked meekly.

  "You were the one who wao upgrade his seal, right? Now you ’t back out. Sensei and I have been w on that for the st week. Now that the seal is ready, you finally get the upgrade you wanted," Jiraiya said.

  "And?"

  "And we have to erase some parts of the previous seal and make a few more adjustments. So, it’ll be a little more painful than what you felt before," Jiraiya said.

  "More painful? I thought that was the limit of the pain my mind could process before breaking down," Kaida said, a shiver running down his spine as he thought about that time.

  "Oh, you have no idea how much pain you endure. Well, today you’ll get a basic idea," Jiraiya said.

  " I refuse?" Kaida asked, this time not wanting to increase his strength anymore. 'What’s the use of strength if I get mentally dead in the process?' he thought.

  "No. Do you think my and the Hokage’s time is so cheap? We’ve ied hours into this, and now you want to opt out? No ce," Jiraiya said.

  "Sensei, are you really going to force your student into something this painful?" Kaida asked pitifully.

  "If it’s for the betterment of my student, then why not?" Jiraiya replied, unfazed.

  'Tch,' Kaida clicked his tongue in his mind but started preparing himself to gh the process without dying.

  After they ehe building, Jiraiya made his way straight to the Hokage’s office.

  "Good m, Sensei."

  "Huh, at least knock before entering," Hiruzen said.

  "But st time you said to just ehrough the door, without mentioning anything about knog," Jiraiya replied.

  "Sigh. I don’t have the energy to tihis discussion. So, Kaida, are you ready?" Hiruzen asked, turning towards Kaida.

  Even though Kaida wao say no, seeing the dark circles under Hiruzen’s eyes, he couldn’t refuse.

  "Yes, Lord Third. Thank you for doing so mue," Kaida said.

  "No problem. It’s the job of the Hokage to work for the people of Konoha," Hiruzen said with his trademark grandfatherly smile.

  "Sihe pleasantries are over, let’s start the procedure, Sensei," Jiraiya said.

  "Yes, let’s go," Hiruzen said. He made a shadow e to stay behind in the office while he, Jiraiya, and Kaida made their way to the basement of the Hokage building.

  When Kaida ehe basement, he wao go back to the cave he came from. There was a single light in the room, shining above a single bed that resembled a hospital stretcher. Like before, the bed had restraints to keep him from moving during the procedure, but this time, they were made of metal.

  The whole setup strangely resembled the experiment base of some evil stist in a random anime movie. There was one more person in the basement besides them.

  "You’re quite a masochist, Kaida. You really like this type of pain, huh?" Mitsuru asked, standing up from her seat.

  "What I say, Sensei? I keep getting myself into these situations," Kaida replied with an awkward ugh.

  "The’s start," Jiraiya said, standihe bed with a different type of brush in hand. Uhe previous time, when the brush resembled Tsunade’s slug summon, this one looked like a on.

  "Why do I feel like you’re enjoying freaking him out, Jiraiya-sama?" Mitsuru said, ing closer to the bed as well. From the look on her face, she was suppressing a smile.

  "I don’t know, you must be fused. I’m just happy that my student is going to get stronger," Jiraiya said with a ugh, and Mitsuru joined him.

  'Why do I keep getting stuck with teachers like this?' Kaida cried in his mind, but there was nothing he could do except ehe pain that was about to e.